Here is a quick run down of how City Council works.
There are two types of City Councilmembers: at-large and district Members.
The at-large Councilmembers are elected citywide and hold seven spots.
There are ten district members that represent different geographic areas in Philadelphia. Penn’s Council member is Jannie Blackwell, representing the 3rd District of Philadelphia, which is basically all of West Philly. Read more…
Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania’s senior (and only Republican) senator, has officially switched parties. He will run as a Democrat in the 2010 election.
This decision will have serious repercussions in both Washington and Pennsylvania for the foreseeable future. Specter had been mulling a possible switch since his vote on the Obama stimulus package garnered the ire of Pennsylvania Republicans. Former Rep. Patrick Toomey, a conservative Republican who unsuccessfully challenged Specter in 2004 and nearly beat him, announced earlier in the month that he was officially running again. With the state’s demographics shifting Democratic, Republican primary voters have become an increasingly conservative lot. Read more…
Tomorrow marks the 100th day of Obama’s presidency.
As someone who worked on his campaign from February 2007 up through election day, I still have a hard time believing he won. Obama began his campaign primarily as the anti-war candidate, the Washington outsider who would power-wash the government of corruption and secrecy with…change.
Those commentators and students of politics who know how Washington functioned worried a bit about how Obama was going to enact this sweeping reform if elected. Was he going to pull a Carter and attempt to completely sideline Congress? Emulate Bill Clinton and pitch heated battles with Republicans? Fortunately it doesn’t look like Republicans are going to stage any kind of revolution akin to 1994 beyond marching around with signs, so Obama is probably safe on that front. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of Obama’s first 100 Days: Read more…
To a college student, 21 is a big number. Age to buy drinks. Age to put down on a fake ID. But the new Washington Post/ABC News poll numbers have Democrats yelling “Blackjack!”
That’s right. Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post is channeling a new WaPo/ABC News poll suggesting that the number of Americans who identify themselves as Republicans is at its lowest level since 1983. In comparison, 35 percent of those surveyed identify themselves as Democrats, with 38 percent saying they’re Independents.
That’s quite remarkable. In November, 18-30 year-old voters went for President Obama at a rate of 2-1. The new poll, with Obama now nearing his 100th day in office, shows his approval at a noteworthy 69 percent. Unfortunately, the poll doesn’t get specific on age breakdown. Read more…
College sophomore Alec Webley will be the 2009-2010 chairman of the Undergraduate Assembly.
Webley won the internal UA vote by a margin of 16-8, according to sources inside the meeting. He defeated the current vice chair of external affairs, College junior Zac Byer, in a heated campaign to woo members. The initial meeting to hear both candidates speak and take questions far exceeded the capacity of the Huntsman 260 classroom, and included UA members, members of student organizations and curious, active students.
One year ago today, Hillary Clinton defeated Barack Obama by 9 percentage points in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. Wow.
On Penn’s campus alone, the lead-up to the primary was incredible. Visitors during that 6-week build-up period included Chelsea Clinton at Perelman Quad, Bill Clinton in Irvine Auditorium, Hillary Clinton in Houston Hall for a big economic speech and all of the Clintons in the Palestra for the final primary-eve campaign stop.
Stephen Colbert graced us with his presence for a WEEK in Zellerbach Theater. On Colbert’s Penn show, his guests included Michelle Obama, Gov. Ed Rendell, Mayor Michael Nutter, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews (a Philly native), former candidate John Edwards (remember him?) and Hillary Clinton. Obama appeared on a giant screen behind Colbert for a satellite interview. Read more…
I’m deviating from regular politics here, and diving into an area of guilty intrigue: the United States Supreme Court.
This week, the Court is taking up the issue of affirmative action presented by Ricci v. DeStefano out of New Haven, Connecticut. Here’s a good breakdown of the details.
Basically, New Haven sought to promote firefighters based on their scores on a two-component exam: written section plus interview. As it ended up, the white firefighters all scored above the threshold and the minority firefighters all scored below it. No minorities could therefore be considered for promotion.
The city threw out the whole process, arguing that the score separation between firefighters was evidence enough that the test was inherently flawed. The white firefighters, some of whom invested in test-taking materials, sued the city claiming a violation of the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. This is a modern case of alleged “reverse racism,” with the justices perhaps ready to overturn aspects of affirmative action. Read more…
However, to put this into perspective, the average amount of money raised by a congressperson in 2007-2008 was $1.4 million. Fattah is in the bottom quintile in terms of fundraising, raking in 19.5% ($274,080) of that amount.
We’re in the midst of an economic catastrophe. International tensions are high from Israel to Palestine to Iran to North Korea to Venezuela. Big government is back and spending billions, but no one can be sure if it’s too little or too much. The average American is afraid and uncertain, and I think rightly so.
Ninety days ago, Barack Obama became the president of the United States. If you’ve paid any attention, the cabinet selection process lined up Democratic (and some Republican) all-stars. Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, Bill Richardson Judd Gregg Gary Locke, Kathleen Sebelius and a number of others.
Today was the first time that the President assembled his cabinet in one place at one time—three months in. And Sebelius and Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack weren’t even there. Read more…
Janet Napolitano, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, issued a warning earlier this week regarding right-wing extremist groups. The report’s introduction states, “The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.”
According to The Washington Times, these right-wing radicals “may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration. After Republican and congressional outrage, DHS apologized, saying “Intelligence analysts…ignored objections by civil-liberties officials” before issuing the report.
This apology scares me more than the report itself. If there is actually a danger from right-wing or left-wing extremist groups, I would prefer the agency not hide it because of political pressures. Napolitano was in no way indicating that all Republicans were extreme, nor was she stating that military veterans would become unwarranted targets of surveillance. She was doing her job, issuing a report about threats to the American homeland. Read more…
Tomorrow marks the 100th day of Obama’s presidency.
To a college student, 21 is a big number. Age to buy drinks. Age to put down on a fake ID. But the new Washington Post/ABC News poll numbers have Democrats yelling “Blackjack!”
I’m deviating from regular politics here, and diving into an area of guilty intrigue: the United States Supreme Court.
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